I'm the biggest animal lover on the planet and I hate the thought of these guys having to be killed, but I can think of zero other workable solutions to save the rest of the animals in the everglades. The only real problem here is my fear of what other species will be blown away in the python hunt.

Verdelak:I'm the biggest animal lover on the planet and I hate the thought of these guys having to be killed, but I can think of zero other workable solutions to save the rest of the animals in the everglades. The only real problem here is my fear of what other species will be blown away in the python hunt.

Except it won't solve anything. There are (at minimum) 10,000+ pythons in the Everglades. Possibly far, far more (according to the article some estimate "hundreds of thousands). And how many were killed the first two days of a month long hunt? 11 of them. Even if they quadruple the kill rate, there would still be under 700 killed total. Barely the smallest dent in the problem.

This hunt poses a huge risk to the natural wildlife to basically put a tiny bandage on a giant, gushing, bloody gunshot would. It's ridiculous.

This is the best application of redneck blood lust ever. Can't wait to see the Discovery Channel series that comes out of this one. Seriously. This invasive species needs to go away and we finally found folks daring enough to do the job. Good on these guys for heading into the swamps to take care of this. No way in hell would I want to go snake hunting like that.

Supes:Verdelak: I'm the biggest animal lover on the planet and I hate the thought of these guys having to be killed, but I can think of zero other workable solutions to save the rest of the animals in the everglades. The only real problem here is my fear of what other species will be blown away in the python hunt.

Except it won't solve anything. There are (at minimum) 10,000+ pythons in the Everglades. Possibly far, far more (according to the article some estimate "hundreds of thousands). And how many were killed the first two days of a month long hunt? 11 of them. Even if they quadruple the kill rate, there would still be under 700 killed total. Barely the smallest dent in the problem.

This hunt poses a huge risk to the natural wildlife to basically put a tiny bandage on a giant, gushing, bloody gunshot would. It's ridiculous.

If there's anything we can learn from the past, it's that with enough "Varmint Hunts," we can kill them off. That's what happened to the Eastern Mountain Lions.

Supes:Verdelak: I'm the biggest animal lover on the planet and I hate the thought of these guys having to be killed, but I can think of zero other workable solutions to save the rest of the animals in the everglades. The only real problem here is my fear of what other species will be blown away in the python hunt.

Except it won't solve anything. There are (at minimum) 10,000+ pythons in the Everglades. Possibly far, far more (according to the article some estimate "hundreds of thousands). And how many were killed the first two days of a month long hunt? 11 of them. Even if they quadruple the kill rate, there would still be under 700 killed total. Barely the smallest dent in the problem.

This hunt poses a huge risk to the natural wildlife to basically put a tiny bandage on a giant, gushing, bloody gunshot would. It's ridiculous.

The more you know. I did not know that the hunt was so dismal. I should have suspected though. Massive swamp and an elusive predator doesn't bode well for success. Sadly, I fear that alligators and the handful of cougars are at risk.

Supes:Verdelak: I'm the biggest animal lover on the planet and I hate the thought of these guys having to be killed, but I can think of zero other workable solutions to save the rest of the animals in the everglades. The only real problem here is my fear of what other species will be blown away in the python hunt.

Except it won't solve anything. There are (at minimum) 10,000+ pythons in the Everglades. Possibly far, far more (according to the article some estimate "hundreds of thousands). And how many were killed the first two days of a month long hunt? 11 of them. Even if they quadruple the kill rate, there would still be under 700 killed total. Barely the smallest dent in the problem.

This hunt poses a huge risk to the natural wildlife to basically put a tiny bandage on a giant, gushing, bloody gunshot would. It's ridiculous.

justanotherfarkinfarker:You can probably kill them all if there was enough money in it. We nearly did it with gators and a few birds in FL. Not to mention the rest of the US.

This

$1500 is not much of an incentive for most people to invest in all the gear required to hunt in the Everglades. If they did a decent prize like $10,000, you'd see the Mid-Western hunters come down in droves and then you'd get some results.

plcow:I think this is a good idea. As long as the pre-screen to make sure that the people searching have some basic everglades skills. This way the park rangers, hospitals etc can be on call too.

Out of curiosity though. How do you find them? Just walking around looking for them? Are there particular scents that they are attacted to?

Wear the scent of a small mammal and pythons will find you.

No, seriously, you look for them. They're well camouflaged and most are farily small. So it isn't easy. But in the early mornings, snakes will expose themselves to the sun to warm up, so you'll find them on roads, deadfalls, and in other sunny places. They're also sluggish when they're cold, so they're easier to catch.

The risk is 800+ mostly untrained hunters traipsing through the Everglades, with loaded guns, ready to shoot anything that moves.

The sad part is, I agree this is a huge problem, and to be frank there really is no good way to eradicate the pythons. But a smaller, highly trained group of people operating on a longer time scale (maybe year-round, permanently) would be more effective and have less potential to cause harm. Still wouldn't solve the problem though.... there simply is no silver bullet.

Verdelak:Supes: Verdelak: I'm the biggest animal lover on the planet and I hate the thought of these guys having to be killed, but I can think of zero other workable solutions to save the rest of the animals in the everglades. The only real problem here is my fear of what other species will be blown away in the python hunt.

Except it won't solve anything. There are (at minimum) 10,000+ pythons in the Everglades. Possibly far, far more (according to the article some estimate "hundreds of thousands). And how many were killed the first two days of a month long hunt? 11 of them. Even if they quadruple the kill rate, there would still be under 700 killed total. Barely the smallest dent in the problem.

This hunt poses a huge risk to the natural wildlife to basically put a tiny bandage on a giant, gushing, bloody gunshot would. It's ridiculous.

The more you know. I did not know that the hunt was so dismal. I should have suspected though. Massive swamp and an elusive predator doesn't bode well for success. Sadly, I fear that alligators and the handful of cougars are at risk.

Plus, there won't be 800 hunters out there every day for a month. 800 hunters are registered, that's all. Quite a few will give up very quickly. Others are just in it a day or two for a vacation adventure.

Supes:Verdelak: I'm the biggest animal lover on the planet and I hate the thought of these guys having to be killed, but I can think of zero other workable solutions to save the rest of the animals in the everglades. The only real problem here is my fear of what other species will be blown away in the python hunt.

Except it won't solve anything. There are (at minimum) 10,000+ pythons in the Everglades. Possibly far, far more (according to the article some estimate "hundreds of thousands). And how many were killed the first two days of a month long hunt? 11 of them. Even if they quadruple the kill rate, there would still be under 700 killed total. Barely the smallest dent in the problem.

This hunt poses a huge risk to the natural wildlife to basically put a tiny bandage on a giant, gushing, bloody gunshot would. It's ridiculous.

You are right about the hunt barely making a dent in the population of the snakes.But the hunt is about more than just the numbers. They are using it to gather data about the snakes. It really was never about the numbers alone. Hopefully they will get a better understanding of the habitats that the snakes are living in and be able to formulate a plan that will have an effect. Seems the science part of all the media attention is getting over looked.Blood and killing are sexy and it sells. Science, not so much.

DownDaRiver:You are right about the hunt barely making a dent in the population of the snakes.But the hunt is about more than just the numbers. They are using it to gather data about the snakes. It really was never about the numbers alone. Hopefully they will get a better understanding of the habitats that the snakes are living in and be able to formulate a plan that will have an effect. Seems the science part of all the media attention is getting over looked.Blood and killing are sexy and it sells. Science, not so much.

Any more information about that? I wasn't familiar with any scientific data-gathering aspects of this hunt.

Supes:BarkingUnicorn: What is the "huge risk to the natural wildlife?"

Is there another way to eradicate pythons, or is it too late?

The risk is 800+ mostly untrained hunters traipsing through the Everglades, with loaded guns, ready to shoot anything that moves.

The sad part is, I agree this is a huge problem, and to be frank there really is no good way to eradicate the pythons. But a smaller, highly trained group of people operating on a longer time scale (maybe year-round, permanently) would be more effective and have less potential to cause harm. Still wouldn't solve the problem though.... there simply is no silver bullet.

I don't think these hunters are going to be indiscriminate. Some native snakes will be killed by mistake, but that's the biggest risk I see (ignoring risks to hunters).

I agree that pythons are here to stay. A new ecological balance will work itself out.

DownDaRiver:You are right about the hunt barely making a dent in the population of the snakes.But the hunt is about more than just the numbers. They are using it to gather data about the snakes. It really was never about the numbers alone. Hopefully they will get a better understanding of the habitats that the snakes are living in and be able to formulate a plan that will have an effect. Seems the science part of all the media attention is getting over looked.

I haven't seen anything in the rules about collecting research data. It's just find 'em, kill 'em, and bring 'em in.

Rattlesnake round-ups are big in Texas. Tens of thousands of snakes are killed each year, but Texas never runs out of rattlesnakes. Python hunting will just become a local tradition and tourist attraction. Someday, we'll see "save the pythons because jobs" campaign.

Mr. Holmes:If there's anything we can learn from the past, it's that with enough "Varmint Hunts," we can kill them off. That's what happened to the Eastern Mountain Lions.

//Did somebody say $25 a python? I could go for that.

Yep.

All you have to do is set the bounty below how much it costs to raise a python, to discourage breeding of them for the bounty, but high enough that people are willing to spend the time to actively hunt them.

Supes:DownDaRiver: You are right about the hunt barely making a dent in the population of the snakes.But the hunt is about more than just the numbers. They are using it to gather data about the snakes. It really was never about the numbers alone. Hopefully they will get a better understanding of the habitats that the snakes are living in and be able to formulate a plan that will have an effect. Seems the science part of all the media attention is getting over looked.Blood and killing are sexy and it sells. Science, not so much.

Any more information about that? I wasn't familiar with any scientific data-gathering aspects of this hunt.

You have to have a digital camera to take pictures of the snake, and you have to have a GPS to record the location of where you took the snake, and you have to send both the image and coordinates to Florida Fish and Wildlife.

It's not just a "Bubba shows up with a pick-up truck bed full of pythons" sort of thing.